The Teatro Petruzzelli is the largest theatre of the city of Bari and the fourth Italian theatre by size.
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The history of the Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari begins when Onofrio and Antonio Petruzzelli, traders and ship builders of Trieste presented the design of the theatre of their brother-in-law, the engineer Angelo Bari Cicciomessere (then Messeni) at the city of Bari. The proposal of the Petruzzellis was accepted and in 1896 they signed the contract between the family and the city administration. The contract is dated 29 January 1896. Two years later, in October 1898, work began and ended in 1903. Inside the theatre was painted by Raffaele Armenise. Petruzzelli took from the Corato the primacy of the largest theatre of Apulia. The theatre was inaugurated on Saturday 14 February 1903 with the masterpiece of Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots.
In the eighties, the theatre hosted two major "firsts": that of Iphigénie en Tauride by Niccolò Piccinni never represented after their debut in Paris in 1779, and the Neapolitan version of I Puritani of Bellini, written Maria Malibran but never performed. The contributed ot make the city world famous. Next to the opera scene, musical ballet, big concerts were hosted. Great international artists have walked the stage of the Petruzzelli: Tito Schipa, Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Nureyev, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli, Juliette Gréco And the great Italian artists: Eduardo De Filippo, Riccardo Muti, Carla Fracci, Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli and Giorgio Gaber.
The Petruzzelli also hosted important light music concerts, among others Paolo Conte, Ornella Vanoni and was the headquarters of the broadcasting music Azzurro for almost all the 80s. Inside the theatre was also used as a background by directors like Franco Zeffirelli. The theater is also remembered because it was filmed the movie Polvere di stelle, of Alberto Sordi.
During the night of 26 and 27 October 1991 the theatre was completely destroyed by a fire arson. The last opera represented was the Norma.
The criminal trial concerning the burning ended with the acquittal of the defendants accused of being principals commissioners and the condemnation of the perpetrators of the incident. Another civil action that involved the family Messeni Nemagna and temporary manager Fernando Pinto then accused of failing to ensure the theatre ended with his conviction to pay a compensation of 57 billion lire in favour of the owners of the theatre. On 21 November 2002 at the Ministry for Heritage and Cultural activities was signed a "Protocol of Understanding" between the family that owns the theatre and the City, the Province of Bari and the Apulia Region stating that the theatre would be delivered by the public parts, rebuilt, by 22 November 2006. Yet the works for the reconstruction have never started, so, on 3 October of 2006, the Theatre has been expropriated according to an article related to Finance Act of 2006 and become property of the Municipality of Bari. On 30 April 2008 the Constitutional Court with decision No. 128/2008[1] has given the property Theatre back to the Messeni Nemagna family for lack of requirements for "extraordinary need and urgency" planned expropriation.
The Petruzzelli, reconstructed entirely with public money in the 2008 was returned to the city of Bari on 7 September 2009 for breach of art. 5 of the contract dated 29 January 1896 between the City of Bari and Antonio Onofrio and Petruzzelli. The article states: "In case the building collapsed by earthquake, fire or for any other cause, the grantee and its successors will have the right to rebuild the Politeama original state, provided that the work is undertaken in a year and be completed in three from the day on which the collapse has occurred, or have a duty to clear the land of free materials and return it to the City a year counting from the above term. "
The Fondazione Lirico Sinfonica Petruzzelli e Teatri di Bari was eventually identified as the only person able to assume the management, maintenance and insurance of the Teatro Petruzzelli, based on what was written in former Art. 23 of Law 800, which states that municipalities must make theatres available for opera companies to follow up the concert seasons. The Teatro Petruzzelli officially reopened Sunday 4 October 2009, nearly 18 years after the fire, with the execution of the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven by the Orchestra of the Province of Bari, conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo.
On 6 December 2009 inaugurated the first opera season in Petruzzelli rebuilt after the fire with the Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, directed by Roberto De Simone and orchestral direction of Maestro Renato Palumbo, who in September had concerted the Tosca, last title on the program of the Teatro Piccinni. A trial of this Tosca was the first hearing test for orchestra and singers after the reconstruction.